The DreamWorld Reality
by duckie lover 151
Summary: Haruhi never would have considered her life to be normal… until now. "This is worse than the Wonderland dream," she muttered. "I hate to be the one to tell you this," said the old man, "but that wasn't a dream."
1. Chapter 1

**I am on a video game/anime high right now. I just finished the first Kingdom Hearts game, and I'm so excited for the next one!**

**Anyway… This story was inspired by a dream I had last night. (That I'm thinking was probably influenced by my playing so much Kingdom Hearts…) **

**I hope you enjoy the first chapter!**

_Summary: Haruhi never would have considered her life to be normal… until now. "This is worse than the Wonderland dream," she muttered. "I hate to be the one to tell you this," said the old man, "but that wasn't a dream."_

**Chapter One**

Haruhi leaned back from the small table in their equally small apartment. Participating in all the Host Club activities often left her with an insufficient amount of time to do her homework, but she's determined to push through it. She wasn't an honor student for nothing after all. And besides, who would Hikaru and Kaoru copy off of if they'd been so careless as to forget to ask their maids to do it for them again?

Personally, Haruhi finds the very concept of having maids ridiculous, and not from a case of sour grapes, either. But then, she supposed that if one was going to live their entire life like the Hitachiin twins, they wouldn't really _need _to learn how to take care of him or or herself.

She smiled down at the pen she'd been absentmindedly twirling through her fingers. She can clearly read 'Made in France' engraved along the side. Though she had considered the matter over and done with, Tamaki had insisted on giving her this pen as compensation. Oh well. At least it didn't have a teddy bear on it.

She was torn away from any further musings when her dad walked through door. He looked tired; Ranka was actually looking his age for once. But he made an effort to smile when he saw her.

His daughter hurriedly got up to retrieve the tea she'd made for them from the stove. "How was work, Dad?" she asked, setting the cups down in front of them.

"Tiring," he answered honestly, taking a sip. Then he looked around at the mess on the table and put on his falsetto voice. "Oh my. You always have so much work to do. And on a Sunday, too! How awful."

Haruhi smiled. "It's fine. I would have done it yesterday, but Tamaki-senpai insisted on the entire Host Club going to the beach for a _bonding day_." Her tone suggested that she found this ridiculous, though in all honesty, it had been fun, an entire day without the club's clients. Before high school, she'd never had a close group of friends. It was a new experience, but it was one she was enjoying.

"Well, I'm glad you're having fun." This knowledge seemed to visibly take some of the stress off her dad's shoulders. Ranka looked about to say something more when something very peculiar happened.

A rumbling sound filled the air. The two looked up in surprise as the lights flickered and the walls began to shake. A picture fell from the wall and the glass shattered. Her mother's shrine toppled over, and Haruhi jumped to her feet, as did her father.

"Haruhi, don't-!"

But she didn't get to hear what she wasn't supposed to do. For the next second, the ground fell out from underneath them. The only thing she remembered before succumbing to darkness was hoping that her tea didn't spill over onto her homework.

…

When she awoke she was dazed, lying her her back. _Where am I?_ she wondered. Lights were flashing overhead. Slowly, it faded to a sort of bluish glow and her eyes adjusted. She shot up into a sitting position, the events of the previous moments returning to her.

"Finally awake, I see."

The high-pitched voice startled her, and she whirled around to see an old man staring at her. He had a tuft of wild, snow-white hair on his head and a long, scraggly beard of the same color. Large, dark glasses made his turquoise eyes appear a deep purple. She immediately thought of Tamaki but brushed the thought away just as quickly.

She observed her surroundings and found herself to be in a large metal topless box of some sort. Standing up, the top of the walls were eye-level. She hoisted herself up and saw that it was running along train tracks. How strange.

She turned back to the strange man who was sitting atop one of the box's walls, watching her. "Haruhi Fujioka," he murmured.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, surprised.

He chuckled. "You'll find that I know much more than that. You may call me Jijou," he added though she hadn't asked.

"Jijou-san…" she said slowly. "Where are we?"

"We, my dear, are in the DreamWorld."

Haruhi let out a held breath, relieved that at least none of this bizarreness was real. She must have fallen asleep doing her homework.

"This is worse than the Wonderland dream," she muttered.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this," said the old man, "but that wasn't a dream. And neither is this. This world is every bit as real as the one you've left behind. We just call it that because the body is most vulnerable to entering it when unconscious."

Haruhi sighed at the madness. A small voice in the back of her mind told her that she should be a little more concerned, but even her normal life was so strange… perhaps she'd become immune to madness.

She took another look around and made out the walls of a tunnel surrounding them. Suddenly, she began to worry that this cart-thing was going to run into one of them.

"Hey… is someone driving this thing?" she asked.

"Oh, don't worry. Bardos knows the way," replied Jijou.

Seeing that she was no less confused, Jijou gestured behind him and as she looked, a red tail flicked up over his head. She peered over his shoulder to see a maroon-colored dragon-looking thing sprinting down the path, pulling them in his wake. Haruhi sucked in a breath and took a step back, thinking that maybe she wasn't so immune to madness after all.

In an attempt to calm herself, Haruhi asked the obvious question. "I wasn't asleep… so how did I get here?"

"I said being unconcsious made it more likely, I never said it was necessary. Either way, _you_ were summoned here," he replied, winking at her.

Haruhi blinked in confusion. "Summoned? By who?"

"Why, your mother, of course."

**Review please! **

**I don't own Ouran, but the rest of the characters should be making their way into the story soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you, **_**HappyGirl282, Hopelesslyhope, HitaAndUtaPri, **_**and **_**She Promised Us Lamingtons **_**for reviewing chapter one.**

**Chapter Two**

Jijou waited patiently while Haruhi's eyes slid closed. _That settles it_, she thought, _this is definitely a dream_. But when she opened her eyes she was still in the mysterious dark tunnel and Jijou was still watching her. Finally, she sighed, accepting that she wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

"That's not possible," she told the old man. Dream or not, she could try to add in a little common sense. "My mother's been dead for ten years."

Jijou's chuckle had a bittersweet ring to it. "Yes, that story has been spread around quite well, hasn't it?"

"I… I don't understand what you mean." A part of her- the more logical part of her- was screaming inside her mind that this was all just a dream. That it didn't matter what he meant. None of this was real. But there was another part of her… a part that truly, almost desperately, hoped that this was for real.

He just chuckled. "No, I guess you don't just yet. Don't worry; you will. I've heard you're very bright."

The honor student didn't even think to ask how he knew this or who had told him such things. "Say… Where are we going?" she asked instead.

Jijou allowed another laugh to pass through his airway. "Where do you want to be going?"

Well, if this was a dream, it was _her_ dream. She was going to make the best of it. And more importantly, she was going to be in control.

"Take me to my mother."

…

Members of the Haninozuka family were trained to have superb instincts. Mitsukuni, more commonly known as Honey, was no exception to this. In fact, it was pretty safe to assume that his instincts were a little better than most.

So when he woke up abruptly that night, he didn't doubt for a second that something was wrong. As he dressed and headed outside, he briefly considered waking Takashi, but decided against it. His taller cousin worried too much about him already.

Silently, Honey slipped outside. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh night air. With his eyes closed, he could feel the night around him positively buzzing with activity. It felt more intense than usual.

Honey took a deep breath, eyebrows furrowed in an uncharacteristic sign of worry, and headed out of the Haninozuka estate. He'd never doubted his instincts before, and he wasn't about to now. Not when so much could be at stake. Though really, he couldn't pinpoint the source of this uneasiness he was feeling. Yet.

His searching took him to a poorer part of town (extremely so compared to his standards of living). Before he knew it, he'd reached Haruhi's apartment building. Or, what had used to be Haruhi's apartment building.

The night sky was lit up by flashing red and blue lights. Police were already on the scene. Honey managed to slip by the caution tape unnoticed. He was horrified at what he saw.

It looked like the entire middle of the building had fallen in. Simply collapsed. Hidden behind a bush in the complete darkness, Mitsukuni Haninozuka listened for a few moments to the policemen's words, anxious for any information involving his friend. When they walked away, he found he was even less comforted by their words than he had been by the utter silence. According to the policemen, there was only one injury: an older woman who lived in the apartment below Haruhi's. She'd been hit by falling debris, but was likely to make a full recovery. However, the man and his daughter from apartment 2B, namely, Haruhi and her father, had been reported missing.

Agitated, Honey's gaze was drawn to the ruined apartment building. Just because the police couldn't find them didn't mean they weren't still in there. What if they were hurt? And besides, there was a strange, buzzing energy that was still emanating from the building. From Honey's experience, such forces usually reached their peak right before the disaster happened and quickly dissipated afterwards. What if the real tragedy hadn't occurred yet and the Fujiokas were still inside?

Honey shook his head, his mind made up. He would have to go in after them.

It was almost laughably easy to sneak past the remaining police officers and into the building. He was forced to jump from the first to second floor as the stairway was destroyed. Haruhi's door nearly fell in when he tried to open it. He tried to step lightly as he didn't want anything else to collapse into the rubble, worried that even his small amount of weight would bring everything crashing down.

The sight that met him when he reached the dining room was a startling one. Really, all that was left of the room were the corners. The middle was what had fallen in, but there was something… off about it. He should have been able to see into the apartment downstairs, but that view had been consumed by an unnatural darkness.

Cautiously, Honey knelt down to get a closer look. He slowly reached a hand out… and was immediately sucked forward. His eyes widened, but there was no going back now.

…

The next morning, the students at Ouran Academy were practically in an uproar over what had happened (or rumors of what had happened) last night. The teachers were just as preoccupied over the shocking events and those who noticed had nothing to say about the four extra absences in their class.

No one had even had to call a meeting. The remaining hosts had headed directly to the third music room as soon as they'd arrived on the school grounds that morning.

Kyoya grit his teeth. While none of the surrounding action stalled his hands from flying over the keyboard of his laptop, it was distracting, to say the least. Tamaki was spazzing around behind him, his words having long since become incomprehensive. Off on the other side of the room, Hikaru was pacing furiously, seeming to grow more frustrated by the second. For some reason Kaoru, standing stiff as a statue by one of the windows, was no less distracting than his brother and their host king.

"Kyoya, have you found anything yet?" Tamaki finally came to a stop, nearly hyperventilating with the hopes of good news.

"Not yet," he answered bitterly.

"Well, what's taking so long?" Hikaru snapped.

Kyoya sent a hard look towards the more volatile Hiitachin twin, and Kaoru moved in closer as if hoping to comfort him. But with the worried look on his own face, Kyoya doubted he would be much help.

"Be patient, Hikaru," he said, never having felt more like a hypocrite in his entire life. "I have the entire Ootori police force out looking for them, and they've all been instructed to make this case their top priority."

"I don't understand!" Hikaru burst out again. "How can two people just disappear overnight and no one has _any_ idea what could have happened? And where's Mori-senpai? Shouldn't he be here helping us?"

Personally, Kyoya felt that no one was doing much work to be helped but himself, but he kept that to himself. "We're actually missing three people if you count Ranka. And Mori didn't come to school today, but I can assure you he's on the Haninozuka estate and accounted for."

"I can't say I blame him," said Kaoru quietly, glancing at his brother. Had he been in Mori's shoes and it had been Hikaru who'd disappeared, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to forgive himself. School attendance would have been the least of his worries, too.

"We have to find them!" Hikaru exclaimed. "What if Haruhi's hurt?"

"And Honey," Kaoru added in almost inaudibly though he really wasn't worried about the martial arts master. And he almost hated the part of him that hadn't been able to help correcting his brother.

"I'm doing everything I can," Kyoya promised. "We _will_ find them."

"Don't worry, Haruhi!" Tamaki cried heroically. "Daddy will save you!"

**Review please!**

**I would just like to say two things. (For the record) One, I do not support HikaruxHaruhi. I'm just trying to keep them in character. And two, I don't know her actual apartment number; I made it up. ^^' So if anyone knows the real number… it would be pretty cool if you could let me know.**

**I don't own Ouran! And thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you, **_**HappyGirl282**_**, **_**She Promised Us Lamingtons**_**, and **_**HitaAndUtaPri**_** for reviewing chapter two!**

**Chapter Three**

Kyoya sighed for what felt like the millionth time that night, running a hand through his already messed-up hair. It was rare to catch him in such a state, but these weren't normal circumstances. He glanced up around him at the darkened music room. Calls had been made to parents (or, more accurately, servants) hours earlier, the four hosts refusing to leave the school until they'd come up with a solution.

Unfortunately, they hadn't had much luck. The afternoon had dragged on until the sky had darkened and the skies had come out. It had officially been more than 24 hours since Haruhi had gone missing, and they were reaching that mark for Honey's disappearance as well. One by one, Tamaki and then Hikaru and Kaoru had succumbed to sleep, but Kyoya was still awake, the screen of his laptop glinting off of his glasses, behind which he felt his eyelids drooping.

He couldn't be sure whether or not he'd already slipped over into unconsciousness when he heard the door creak open ten minutes later. It felt even more surreal when he looked up to find someone both very familiar and nearly unrecognizable standing beside him.

"Nekozawa-sempai?"

The boy was hard to place without his ever-present cloak, but here, in the dead of night with all the lights off, he hardly needed it. The blond hair hung down from his face which Kyoya found it hard to focus on while fighting to stay awake. He simply stood in silence for some time. The host was almost sure this was a dream until the other boy moved.

"You want to find her, don't you?" A little blankly, Kyoya nodded. Nekozawa slowly pointed to the screen. "The Dark Magic Club has resources beyond your wildest dreams," the older boy said simply. Kyoya didn't have to be convinced, he was half sure that this was one of them.

He was startled back into awareness when the screen Nekozawa had just placed a finger upon went blank. That same screen quickly began to glow so bright the white was almost blue. Nekozawa was quickly slipping from the room when Kyoya jumped up, a gasp tearing its way out of his throat.

The sound was enough to drag Tamaki back to consciousness. He awoke with a bit of a snort and looked around groggily.

"Kyoya? What- Ack!" His words had sounded slightly slurred until he awoke completely. His scream made the twins sit up as well.

Kyoya didn't have time to explain. No one even had the time to ask any questions. A second later they were all gone, leaving the music room as empty as if they'd never been there at all.

…

It felt like forever, but they'd finally reached the end of the tunnel. Haruhi had fallen asleep in Jijou's cart for an unidentifiable amount of time. She sat up as the light became brighter and brighter, squinting when it engulfed them.

She was met with a clear, fresh breeze and trees rushing by her along the dirt path where the railroad tracks had been set. It was a strange set-up, but she hadn't really expected it to be normal. She was beginning to wake up a little, letting it sink in that this really was happening after all.

"Where are we?" she asked the old man. Jijou had not moved an inch since they'd last spoken, as far as she could see. His eyes were no longer visible past his sunglasses, but she could see more of him in the sunlight. She noticed at once that he wasn't nearly as frail as she'd been expecting, due to his age. Wiry little muscled lined his arms which were crossed over his chest.

"We're nearing the royal city," he replied, a gruff tone taking over the easy-going voice he'd used with her the night before. "But I'm afraid you can't arrive like that."

"What do you-"

Before she could even finish her question, Jijou had jumped from where he was positioned on the edge of the cart. Moving faster than she'd thought possible for one of his age, he was behind her in seconds. She barely had time to register the needle in his hand before he sunk it into the flesh of her back.

She gasped as it pierced through the fabric, and her pupils dilated before she fell to the hard wood floor of the cart, unconscious once more.

…

Takashi Morinozuka sat rigidly on the floor of the private Haninozuka dojo. He and Mitsukuni had been given their own separated sparring room years ago. But now, he feared it was his alone.

Mori had been in a state of deep meditation all day, but even this couldn't quell his worries. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around the fact that Mitsukuni was gone. Possibly forever. His face twisted into a grimace and his hands clenched into fists where they lay.

How could he have let this happen? It was his job to look after Mitsukuni. It was up to him to _protect _the small boy. He'd done everything right. So how had this happened? How had he been so careless as to lose the one who meant the most to him? Mitsukuni was the only one who truly understood him. Sure he didn't anyway around anyone else, but with Honey he didn't _need _to speak. The child-like blond boy had always understood, regardless of whether or not he'd actually said anything.

The muscles around his heart seemed to tighten as an image of the small boy laughing flashed through his mind. What would Mitsukuni do, out in the world without him? He hadn't even taken Usa-chan with him…. In fact, the stuffed rabbit had sat beside the tall, stoic boy all day.

Perhaps it was the break in the stiff, concentrated state surrounding him all day that broke through into the other realm. But very soon afterwards, Mori felt as though the breath had been knocked out of him. The very air around the spot where he sat, now unable to move, seemed to be closing in around him.

He wondered if he should be worried, how easily he welcomed the darkness.

…

Honey's feet hit the ground what felt like mere seconds afterword. It was a smooth landing, but the experience left him feeling slightly winded and every one of his nerves tingled like he'd just been zapped.

He sqeezed his eyes shut, opened them, then repeated the process, trying to adjust to the dim lighting. He was just beginning to get his bearings when a voice from somewhere above his head startled him.

"Very interesting… We were expecting any other arrivals."

**Review please!**

**And that, my friends, is what I like to call spastic writing. XD My mind seemed to be jumping all over the place when I was writing this one.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to **_**Hita-Chan, She Promised Us Lamingtons, White Fairy, **_**and **_**HappyGirl282 **_**for reviewing the last chapter, and I'm sorry it took so long to get this one out!**

**Also, I mentioned in my last chapter that it was written sort of spastically… Luckily, it seemed like none of you really had a problem with it. For a while, a lot of the story is going to be written like that as there's so many characters and they aren't all in the same place at once.**

**Chapter Four**

Confused, Honey tilted his head upwards in the direction that the voice had come. He was in a tunnel of some sort, and his eyes were slowly adjusting to the dim lighting. Flickering lightbulbs swung from the ceiling, and to his right stood a rickety, wooden watchtower. It was from the top of this structure that the voice came again.

"Mitsukuni Haninozuka…" The voice very nearly crooning his name from above possessed a definite edge of cruelty to it, but now there was something off. Before, he could have sworn the voice had an almost croaky quality to it- like that of an old woman. Now the voice, for all it's cruelty, had a sweeter sound to it; it more closely resembled that of a young girl.

"Who are you?" It was a challenge, but he didn't get a response. The moment Honey took a step forward, every one of his limbs was met with a sharp, piercing pain. However, this only lasted for a moment, as darkness overtook him a second later.

…

Every part of her ached as if she'd just been through an intense workout. Haruhi gasped awake, wondering how it was physically possible to be so sore and not have been run over by a large truck.

"Are you awake?"

The voice addressing her forced Haruhi to open her eyes, regardless of the pain pulsing through her skull every time she drew a breath. It briefly occurred to her that she must look like a frightened wild animal the way her eyes kept darting back and forth as her vision adjusted to the light. Once more, the sun was being blocked out. She could see, but everything was characterized by shadows.

Slowly, Haruhi dragged herself into a sitting position, every one of her muscles screaming in protest as she did so. Her grimace must have been evident, because whoever was sitting in front of her smiled sympathetically.

Haruhi sighed and focused to see a girl who looked to be about her age, maybe a year or so in either direction. She had a heart-shaped face, and her eyes looked kind even if it was impossible to discern exactly what color they were in the poor lighting. She had light brown hair that fell just past her waist- almost to the floor now that she was sitting with her legs tucked underneath her. She was wearing a faded yellow dress, and it wasn't to be rude, but Haruhi would guess that she hadn't bathed in a few days.

"Where are we?" The paid was slowly fading, but her throat was so scratchy that it still hurt to talk.

"The dungeon underneath the castle," the other girl answered simply, as if this fact didn't affect her in the least. "My name is Auriell, by the way."

"Haruhi," the honor student returned. "Why are we in the dungeon? And what castle?"

"Prisoners that are seen to be a direct threat to the royal family are kept in the dungeon. And the castle in the heart of Somnium, of course. That's the royal city in this world."

"Somnium…," Haruhi said slowly. "That's Latin for 'dream'."

Auriell smiled at her. "Yes. You're very smart."

"That's what they say," she replied with a sigh. "But not smart enough to stay out of jail, apparently."

Haruhi got to her feet, stretching her stiff limbs. For a castle, the structure they were in was very simple. Both the left and the right panned out into an unpenetrable darkness, but the cell only stretched about ten feet in either direction. Metal bars reached from floor to ceiling and the door had a large, rusty metal lock. Just outside their cell was a long set of wooden footsteps. Really, it looked more like a cellar than a dungeon. The jail would likely be fancier and more reminescent of a castle if it were in Ouran Academy.

Auriell looked up when the door at the top of the stairs was suddenly thrown open. The light from beyond pierced the darkness of the basement, but the man coming down the steps was cloaked in shadow. His steps were heavy on the stairs, and the girls watched with suspended breath.

When the man reached the bottom, he inserted a key into the lock and threw the door to their cell open too, but still neither captive moved. He was holding something, supported solely by his other arm, but that was as invisible to them as his face. Not for long though.

Haruhi watched in horror as Honey's motionless body fell to the floor.

…

Tamaki sat up with a groan. He rubbed the bump on the back of his head, wondering why he was lying on the ground in the middle of a forest. Where was he? How did he get here?

Haruhi! His memories were slowly filing back into place, but this thought hit him like a brick. He had to find her!

But as he jumped to his feet, familiar voices reached his ears.

"Enough of this civility. Don't you think we've beat around the bush enough?"

"Not at all, Ryouji. Or would you like me to call you Ranka now?"

Tamaki rushed forward and stopped at the edge of a clearing. In the middle was a very peculiar scene. In fact, it looked very much like a tea party. On one side of the table sat Ranka. And perhaps Tamaki had hit his head harder than he'd thought. For on the other side of the table… Well, the host king could have sworn it was Haruhi's mother.

But that was impossible! However, Ranka disproved this impossibility just a second later.

"Kotoko, you can't do this! I thought you stood for justice."

"Don't you dare throw my morals back at me. I _am_ fighting for justice- the only one doing so around here."

"Really?" Ranka challenged coolly. "You call putting an innocent little girl in jail 'justice'? What was her name? Auriell?"

Kotoko's hands contracted into fists on the table. "If that's what it takes to make change, then yes, I do."

Ranka's voice was grim. "You're out of control, Kotoko. But this meeting isn't about your work. Tell me, _where is my daughter?_"

"_Our_ daughter is safe. That's all you need to concern yourself with."

"I think you gave up any claims to Haruhi when you abandoned her ten years ago."

"Haruhi would understand that what I'm doing is right!"

"Oh? You think that would just make it all better? You think it's _okay _that you chose your job over your daughter?"

His provoking had worked. Now Kotoko's voice was equally shrill and passionate.

"I trusted you to take care of her! You didn't have to tell her I _died_!"

"Well, excuse me for thinking it would hurt her a little less than having her find out that you'd just packed up and _left_! I warned you from the beginning that if you were going to get this involved here you would have to choose: Either you're a mother or you're a lawyer!"

In his rage, Ranka had jumped up. Now, Tamaki watched in horror as every one of the man's muscles seemed to seize up. His eyes widened and a horrible choking sound emerged from his throat. Kotoko watched the entire ordeal stoically as her former husband paled and fell to the ground, at last rising to her own feet.

"You forgot one option, dear Ryouji," she murmured to herself. "I've never believed it to be impossible to do both."

…

"Hikaru! _Hikaru!_" Kaoru crashed through the undergrowth, not having a clue where he was going, or caring, for that matter.

He'd been so distant to his brother lately… but his twin meant everything to him! And now they were separated in an unknown and possibly dangerous forest. What if he never saw him again?

"Hikaru!" Once again, he received no answer, and he continued on, his panic building. What else could possibly go wrong today?

**Review please!**

**And thus… it is finally complete! I may be the only one cheering…**

**Sorry again for the wait! I don't own Ouran High School Host Club… But I do own a handful of original characters now…**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you, **_**Hita-chan, animelovernewbie, Littlecosma001, **_**and **_**Square Root of Three**_** for reviewing the last chapter!**

**Chapter Five**

"Honey-senpai!" Haruhi ran over to the blond boy's motionless body. Auriell trailed behind as the honor student turned his body over as gently as possible in her frantic state. There was no sound or movement out of the boy, but he was breathing.

"He'll be all right," she said quietly, though the sight seemed to haunt her as well. "They used a stronger sedative on him… but he'll wake up. Who is he to you?"

Haruhi paused, ready to say he was her senpai… but after all this time were the other hosts really nothing more to her than her classmates? Even now she found she was distancing herself from them, but looking at Honey now, lying on the floor… A lump rose in her throat.

"He's my friend," she answered. "But how did he get here?"

Auriell kneeled beside her, looking worried. "I'm not sure. I'd thought you were here by accident, but another one…"

"But I'm not here by accident," Haruhi said, suddenly remembering. "Jijou said my mother summoned me here."

"What?" Even in the darkness Haruhi could see the other girl's face pale. "But that's impossible… The only one who has the power to physically transfer someone across dimensions is King Druise."

Haruhi had been thinking it was an impossibility as well, but not because of any metaphysical laws. As much as she wanted to believe, a logical part of her brain was reminding her that her mother had been dead for ten years.

Auriell was still contemplating the politics of it all. "Haruhi… who _is_ your mother?"

"Her name was Kotoko Fujioka."

Auriell gasped again. "But that's impossible! Kotoko's only daughter died years ago…"

**...**

Never had Tamaki wished more strongly to have been born into the life of a commoner. Perhaps he'd be on his way to learning to be a doctor right now… Or at least know CPR.

"Ranka!" His shout was useless. The man still lay motionless, growing paler by the second and beginning to turn blue. "Ranka!"

"Hush! Before she comes back." Tamaki jumped. He hadn't heard anyone come up behind him, but directly to his right a boy about his age knelt beside Ranka's body. Though young, the boy's shaggy hair was gray. His coal-black eyes were both piercing and kind, punctuated by the frantic atmosphere. His clothes were clean and expensive-looking, not unlike something Tamaki himself would own. This was clearly not the type of boy to be trekking around the woods on a regular basis.

"What are you doing?" Tamaki cried as the strange boy pulled a syringe out of his pocket.

"Don't worry." Crazed as the boy's eyes were, his voice was steady. "I have the antidote."

His movements were swift. Before Tamaki could even request an explanation, the boy had rolled up Ranka's sleeve and had injected the man with the dark purple liquid.

The two waited for three tense seconds before Ranka gasped back to life. Coughing and sputtering, he was held up by the two boys as he spit up the poison-laced tea his ex-wife had served him. The teenagers were silent as he caught his breath.

At last Tamaki asked quietly, "Ranka? …Are you okay?"

"Fine." Haruhi's father continued to spit the foul taste from his mouth, and his words were practically a growl. He shook his arms free from the two boys grasps and dragged himself somewhat shakily to his feet, using the table as his support. When the table cloth slipped, Tamaki rushed forward to help, but he was waved off irritably as Ranka managed to support his own weight. It wasn't until he turned around to really look at his rescuers that Ranka's eyes flew open.

"Prince Torik!" he explained in a high-pitched voice. "What are you doing out here?"

Torik's face twisted into a wry but grim smile. "Saving you."

"It's not safe," Ranka protested. "Not in the state your kingdom's in, Sire."

"I have to." The prince's eyes were dark, his tone ominous. "My father has become delusional in his old age. He'd like to believe that Kotoko will fix everything."

Ranka sighed. His eyes were sad. "I don't approve of what she's doing any more than you do… But her heart's in the right place. She truly believes she's doing the right."

The prince's eyes, however, were as unforgiving as Ranka's were sad. He scowled. "I don't care. Poisoning people… Imprisoning them and falsely accusing King Mavaer… she'll start a war before her actions do any good, and I refuse to be a part of it!"

"Uh, excuse me…" Never had the host king's voice sounded more timid. "What exactly is going on?"

Both prince and commoner turned to stare at the blond, having forgotten he was there. The two exchanged a glance before Torik spoke.

"Ranka, are you good to walk?" The man nodded. "Then follow me. We can talk in the castle.

…

Kei listened for the sound of Bardos clunking up the tunnel with Jijou and his cart. She didn't have to wait long. Soon, the red dinosaur-like creature was turning the corner to where her watchtower stood.

"Well?" Jijou called out with an awful cackle. "What are you waiting for, woman? Come on down!"

With the lithe agility of one much younger, Kei leaped from her tower, landing nimbly on her feet. She held out her arms so the old man could admire her new body.

He snickered, shaking his head. "I wouldn't go jumping off of anything if I were you. You may _look_ younger, but somewhere underneath all that young skin you're still you… Is this how you've been getting so much information out of the villagers?"

It was Kei's turn to laugh maliciously. "Of course. No one thinks to question an innocent little schoolgirl." The words couldn't have been said with more mockery.

"And the chances of being caught?"

"None. This body belongs to a little girl by the name of Auriell. She is currently serving out a life sentence in the dungeons beneath the castle."

Jijou grinned. "Excellent."

…

Wincing, Kyoya groggily brought a knee to his chest to rest his forehead on. Seeing as he was surrounded on three sides by a brick wall… he deduced that he was in an alley somewhere.

But how he had come to be sitting, unconscious in this alley was a mystery.

He dragged himself to his feet and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket… only realize that he had no service. And who was he going to call, anyway? The events of the previous night had come rushing back to him, and he was beginning to think that it was unlikely that he was still in Japan… Or on Earth for that matter.

He was just about to move out when someone passing by out in the street stumbled. The person outside was very tall, but the sunlight masked any recognizable features from where Kyoya stood. The man just barely managed to catch his fall. He braced himself against the wall with one hand, then seemed to deflate, resting his hand upon the cool bricks as well.

Kyoya took a step forward, beginning to recognize the woebegone actions.

"Mori-senpai?"

The one in question looked up in acknowledgement but said nothing. The kendo champion and the shadow king stood there in silence, utterly lost...

**Review please!**

**This is being done from my school computer, so I'm not going to put much else down here… I don't own Ouran!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ugh, it has taken me so long to get back to this and I'm sorry for anyone who's still waiting! Thank you, **animelovernewbie, Square Root of Three, Littlecosma001, HappyGirl282, **and **Sanna Rose **for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Chapter Six**

The inside of the castle was lavishly furnished. Every surface seemed to gleam in an almost painful. The entire palace seemed to be set up to entertain guests who would never appreciate all the hard work that went into the appearance of this place. It was funny how much a true castle reminded him of his _school_, of all things. But funnier still was that Hikaru took the time to actually take in all these details considering the position he was currently in.

He scowled as the man on his right gave him a sharp jerk, nearly tugging his arm from its socket.

"Don't give us that look," threatened the man on his left.

In truth, both men were ridiculously well-muscled, and it was unlikely that both were necessary to restrain the elder Hitachiin twin. Hikaru had awoken with one hell of a headache and had been immediately hauled to his feet and forcibly escorted to wherever he was going now. Needless to say, this sort of treatment had not put him in a good mood.

The man guarding the large oak door nodded briefly at his two captors and stepped aside to allow them entrance. Hikaru was practically dragged into an even more extravagantly furnished room. A throne, not unlike the chair Tamaki favored, stood in the middle. There was a smaller door on either end of the room, most likely leading to private quarters. Experimentally, Hikaru attempted to tug his left arm from the man's firm grasp. He wasn't quite sure what he'd been thinking,- there was nowhere for him to go should he escape- but he was immediately shoved to his knees, none too gently.

"What's going on?"

Head bent stiffly to stare at the blood-red carpet, Hikaru could not see who had spoken, but he'd heard a door open and this third man enter. The voice was not harsh, as the guards had been thus far. It sounded aged and weary. And not completely unkind.

Hikaru raised his eyes from the floor to see an older man, in his late fifties perhaps, coming closer, adorned in expensive clothing and a fancy robe. Though older, his hair had retained its now-graying golden color and hung past his chin in a straight curtain. Icy blue eyes were set in a wrinkled face, but they didn't appear terribly cold. Tired, more like.

This man, clearly the king, stood just a foot or so away, and bent down to kneel before his prisoner.

"Your Majesty! Please, don't lower yourself for the likes of him." The right guard's words were an exclamation, but they, too, now sounded weary. As if this was a request he'd been forced to voice often over the course of his servitude.

"Nonsense." The weariness in the king's eyes had been replaced by a sharp curiosity. "Where did you find this boy?"

Hikaru held the king's gaze with a hard look of his own, awaiting his fate.

The guards exchanged a look. One of them replied, "We found him lying in the entrance hall. I don't know how he got in. He looked in no condition to get past the guards…"

"I'd say," said the king. He motioned for the guards to release their prisoner, and Hikaru fell into a sort of slump. Much more carefully than one would have expected, the king gently helped the boy to his feet and led him to sit upon the throne, inspecting the bump on his head. "One of you, get him some ice."

Hikaru, fairly stunned and more than a little confused at the turn of events, sat there blankly. When one of the guards made to protest, the king interrupted, "This boy is not our enemy."

**…**

Kyoya had quickly decided that Mori was in no position to do any leading at the moment, deducing that this was due to Honey's absence. Unfortunately, he wasn't in much of a position to do so either.

He'd found out early on that his cell phone got no service here, and to be honest, he wasn't exactly sure what he would have said or who he would have called had it been in working order. He couldn't exactly direct any of his family's chauffers to their location.

He and Mori had begun walking through the streets of what was apparently a marketplace in a heavily populated town. The two received various strange looks, and Kyoya decided that their uniforms attracted too much attention. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to be done about this.

No less than an hour later, the irritation at their helplessness had begun to set in, not helped along any by the fact that Mori couldn't seem to keep from tripping over his own feet. Kyoya glanced back and noticed that he was gripping Usa-chan by the arm in one of his hands. The younger student almost stopped, wondering if Mori had been carrying the stuffed rabbit the entire time, and how he had missed it.

Perhaps the heat was getting to him, but Kyoya grew so lost in thought that he didn't even see the young girl standing in the square before him until he bumped right into her. He looked up, Mori bumping into _him _as they all came to a stop.

"I'm so sorry," he told her, trying to sound sincere, though he really didn't have the patience for such things at the moment.

The girl was considerably shorter than him and quite pretty as well, though her beauty was marred by the cold look on her face. But she seemed to remember herself and hid her annoyance. With a near flirtatious flip of her long light brown hair, the girl leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with interest.

"My name's Auriell," she said, but something in the back of Kyoya's mind registered that she didn't sound quite right about it, more like she was trying out the name than introducing herself. "You two look pretty lost. Can I help you with something?"

"No," he replied, taking measures to keep his features reserved. "Thank you," he added as an afterthought.

With a shrug of annoyance, the girl made a gesture that clearly amounted to 'suit yourself', and was soon lost in the crowd. Kyoya watched the strange girl go, but he didn't have long to contemplate her mannerisms before he was forced to refocus on their own troubles.

**…**

A near-pititful moan escaped his throat as Honey came to. He opened his eyes only to immediately snap them shut again. Though the lighting was very dim, the sensory reactions were still a little overwhelming.

Through the pounding in his head, he was aware of something calling his name. When the pain finally subsided a little he blinked open his eyes. The faces of two girls hovered above him. One he recognized as Haruhi; the other was a stranger.

Under different circumstances, he may have popped up and expressed how pleased he was to see her… However, under the actual circumstances… he didn't feel much like moving.

"Haru-chan?" he managed at last.

Relieved, she smiled down at him. "Welcome back," she said.

He tried to smile back, but it came out more like a grimace. "He'll be fine," he heard the girl he didn't know assure his friend. "The sedative has that effect on people. And they gave him quite a hefty dose…"

He couldn't agree more… But Honey had been raised in a family of expert martial artists. If there was one thing he was good at, it was working through the pain. Still, when he dragged himself into a sitting position, he allowed the girls to help him support his own weight to keep from flopping back over. And just from this exertion, he was breathing heavily.

Honey was left with the feeling that he shouldn't have woken up just yet. He could still feel the drug coursing through his veins, not quite having made it out of his system. He took a deep breath, trying to settle the queasiness that had come over him.

"Where are we?" he asked at last. The nausea and dizziness were coming in waves, like the pain. He would just have to power through it. But he knew the girls could hear it in his voice what with the way they exchanged worried glances none too subltly.

"Prison," said Haruhi flatly. "How did you get here?"

He grinned weakly, wincing as he did so. "Fell through your floor."

"Fell through my… Oh my god!" She stood up suddenly, startling both of them.

"What's the matter?" said the other girl who had introduced herself as Auriell.

"My dad!" A panicked look had entered Haruhi's eyes. She strode to the bars of the cell, grabbing hold and rattling them frantically. "What if he's hurt? I have to find him!"

"Please, calm down," Auriell soothed.

"I'm sure you're dad's fine, Haru-chan," Honey added.

She seemed to slump against the bars. "We need to find a way out of here," she muttered.

But looking around at the other two, their prospects seemed incredibly grim.

**…**

Kaoru stumbled as he finally broke free of the forest. He just barely managed to catch himself but stayed hunched over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He wasn't sure how far he'd run, but it felt like miles. And still no luck.

He was about to take off again, with no real sense of direction, but he stopped when he caught sight of his surroundings. Before him stood a huge, gleaming white castle. And facing him, close to the ground was a barred window. He took a step forward but was stopped by the sound of voices.

"I'm sure you're dad's fine, Haru-chan." He started. The voice was weak, but it most definitely belonged to Honey! An unintelligible murmur followed.

Kaoru bolted forward and kneeled down beside the bars. The sight inside was dark. Two of his friends and a girl he didn't recognize sat in a cell of sorts.

"Honey-senpai! Haruhi!" he hissed into the opening.

All three jumped and whirled to see him.

"Kaoru!" Haruhi exclaimed as a wide grin split his face.

"Fancy meeting you here," he replied, wondering where the sudden light attitude had come from. He shook the bars and they rattled loosely. "Hang on a minute," he told them. "They're loose. I should be able to get them free…"

A moment later, he fell back, the bars securely in his grip. There was now an opening big enough for the captives to escape through.

"Come on," he urged, but the two girls looked worriedly at Honey. Upon further inspection, his senpai was looking a little green. Kaoru frowned. Explanations would have to wait until later. "If you can help him up, I should be able to get him out."

The girls nodded, raising Honey to his feet. The blond looked very wobbly, even at a distance. They tried to help him climb up, but he had to do most of the work himself. Kaoru pulled him up and through. Honey rose, only to take a few steps to the side and have his knees give out. Kaoru rushed to steady him, but ended up supporting the upperclassman as, with an awful choking sound, his last meal made a reappearance.

Kaoru wrinkled his nose when he was finished and lifted the older boy, setting him down a good distance away, thankful that Honey so resembled a child. Even as dead weight, he wasn't terribly heavy.

The more level-headed twin managed to get both the girls up out of the dungeon and around the mess. He noticed the stranger's face pale a little at the sight, but he turned his attention back to Honey who was even paler. Behind him, Haruhi was making introductions.

"This is Kaoru, another friend of mine. Kaoru, this is Auriell."

Kaoru kneeled down beside Honey. "Hey," he said softly. "We need to get out of here. Come on, you can ride on my back."

He got a weak smile in response. "Thanks. I'll try not to get sick again."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"The drug should be wearing off soon," Auriell offered, trying to make him feel better. Kaoru got Honey situated, his arms draped loosely around the other boy's neck, and led the two girls back into the forest which he'd just escaped. He only glanced back at the castle once, allowing his brother into his thoughts once more.

**…**

Things had calmed down. The guards had left, and Hikaru was alone in the presence of the king. The ice pack had been set aside, the throbbing in his head finally having died down. Unfortunately, he was not much more informed than he'd been before.

"I don't understand," he said at last. "Um… Sir," he amended.

"Please, just call me Mavaer."

"Uh, all right. I really want to help and everything, but…" In all honesty, Hikaru's main priority was getting the hell out of there so he could go search for his brother. And his friends, of course.

"I'm not usually one to beg," the king said, "but I'll do anything. Please, we need you. King Druise is so suspicious. He's got identification on everyone in my kingdom, but he won't recognize _you. _We can pretend you're just a wandering traveller. _Please_."

Hikaru scratched the back of his head, at a bit of a loss of what to do. As it was, he wasn't above pleading when it came to this either.

"Look," he said softly, allowing some of the pain to show through in his eyes. "I'd help you, really I would, it's just… I need to find my brother. Please, he means everything to me, and I need to know that he's okay."

"I see." The king seemed resigned. But just when Hikaru was sure that he was about to give in, Mavaer said, "I'll make a deal with you. Your brother is lost somewhere in this land too?"

Hikaru nodded warily.

"I can find your brother… If you will help me find my daughter. Deal?"

Hikaru's jaw clenched. The only thing stopping him from storming out was that he really didn't have any other options. He took a deep breath.

"Fine. Deal."

**Review please!**

**I don't own Ouran.**

**Okay, so I'm gonna go ahead and pretend that it's okay that there was a long wait because this chapter was a little longer than usual. …Yeah… let's go with that. **


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